Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



Breach-Loading Fire-Arm I. SUTVAN.

Patented Mar. I4, 1865.

ANirnnl STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC SUTVAN, OF BRIDESBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO BARTON II; JENKS, OF SAME PLACE.

NIPROVEMENT IIN BREECH-LOADING FlR-ARNIS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No, 46,@66, (lated March l l, 1865.

T0 @ZZ w/"wm it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC SUTVAN, draftsman, of Bridesburg, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Breech-Loading FireAr1ns;'and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, to wit:

It is unnecessary for me to describe themusket, carbine, rifie,`&e., as they are well known,

y and therefore I will proceed to describe more particularly the breech-loading attachment, which can readily be attached to most of these firearms.

In my improvement the retracting and rotating breech-piece is made sufficiently thick to admit of a slot through it, save at the face, and in this slot are placed the locking brace or latch, the hammer, andthe head of the trigger.

My invention consists in so embracing and arranging` their several parts within the movable breech-plate as to form a simple and eff1- cient arm; secondly, in an improved arrangement for withdrawing the cartridge after the explosion, and, thirdly, in a combination of parts so arranged as to prevent the premature explosion of the cartridge before the breechpiece is home or it is locked in the proper position for ring. y

In the drawings accompanying this and forming part of this specification, AAA represent the stock of the fire-arm, B B, the barrel; C C, the band which attaches the barrel to the stock; D D, the trigger guard or bow, E E, the guard-plate; F F, the rear sight; G G, the frame into which the barrel is screwed, and which Vcontains the breech-loading arrangement, with the lock and trigger, and which is more clearly shown in side and top elevations, Figure 1. This frame is made of any suitable metal. having two cheeks extending backward toward the butt of the gun from the hub a', into which the barrel is screwed. The breech A rotates between these cheeks, which are united farther back by the tang-pieceg, against which the locking-latch abuts. From the lower part of the hub G a tongue, I, extends toward the muzzle of the gun,for the purpose of more seto cover the bore or end of the barrel, having cheeks or wings extending rearward from its face and at right angles to the same, their tops forming arcs of a circle, as seen atFig. 2, from 3, as a center. This breech-piece is pivoted to the cheeks of the frame at 3, and swings freely upon the same to and from the end of the barrel. y

J J is the locking brace or latch, having a finger-piece or comb, J J', at its front top end, projecting at nearly right angles therefrom, which serves to depress the bolt, retract the breech, as also as a support in carryingthe arm, while the lower surface of the braceis of a peculiar shape, to be acted uponbythe haar mer and trigger. It is shown in Fig. 5. This latch is hung on a pivot at 4 4 4, near and` under its finger-piece, and between the cheeks of the breech-piece H H, and it acts asabrace between the front end of said breech-piece and the tang or frameat g g, securely holding the breech-piece firmly against the end of the barrel.

The tumbler is made in the ordinary manner, having the hammer K attached to it as one piece. The nose of this latter 1s wedgeshaped, as seen in Fig. 6, tting looselyinto a wedge-shaped slot cut in the lower face of the breechepiece, extending through it, so that the nose of the hammer may strike the-cartridge. The top of the hammer hasv an inclined plane or a projection which acts upon the lower face of the latch J, which forces the said latch into its locking position before the hammer can strike the cartridge. The hammer is hung on the same pivot as the breech-piece, and between its cheeks, as the latch is.

The mainspring L is secured at its front end to the tongue of the frame, and its other end attached to the tumbler-hammer in the usual way by the link M.

The trigger and sear N N are made in one piece, and perform the same functions as 1n all other guns, having, however, acurved or circular back (shown more particularly in Fig. 7 for thepurpose of guiding the latch J 1n its downward movement from off the hammer K. The scar-trigger is pivoted at 8 8 8, and hung between the checks of the frame G, and is held up to the tumbler-hammer by the spring P, which is attached to the guard-plate E.

The rear end of the cartrdge-retractor Ris l latch fits in snugly behind the trigger, prethe segment of a circle of suitable dimensions to embrace the cartridge in front of its flange and fill a corresponding cut in the end of the barrel, and having a tongue projecting forward under the barrel,moving in a slot in the same, and on the lower rear end there is a projection having an oblong slot in it. A pivot, 9 9, connects the retractor to the rotating breechpiece which operates it. (See Fig. l0.)

The operation ofthe improvement is as follows: 'Ihebreech being closed, the nger-piece is drawn back. This depresses the rear end of the latch, releases it from the tang abutment, and the rear lower end comes down on the circular part of the trigger, and by continuing to draw back the finger-piece the breech-piece swings back on its pivot from the end of the barrel, drawing with it the hammer and the cartridge-retractor, so that by one operation the latch or brace is removed, the breech opened, the hammercocked, and the old cartridge-case removed. By pressing the fingerpiece in the opposite direction, the breech is swung up to the end of the barrel, the latch or brace placed in position, and the cartridge-retractor returned, leaving the hammer at fullcock, ready for ring. If the latch or brace should be depressed by accident, thereby freeing the breech from the end of the barrel, the forward movement of the hammer will replace 1t by means of the projection orinclined planes 011 the top of the hammer acting on the under side of the latch before the hammer reaches and explodes the cartridge. l

It will be seen when the breech is open the venting any movement of the same or the hammer. In closing the breech this latch rides easily over both without disturbing them.

I am aware that a pivoted breech-piece having a vibrating brace or latch inserted in arecessed or forked breech-piece was heretofore patented by Pyrse and Redman in England, and also that a vibrating breech-piece and a latch and hammer placed in recesses of said vibrating breech-piece was also patented by Andrew Gillet in 1864.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a vibrating breechpiece and a vibrating latch and hammer when said vibrating latch and hammer are both placed in a fork or recess in the movable breech-piece.

2. The safety device for locking the latchbrace by means of the projection or inclined planes on the top of thehammer acting onthc under surface of the latch on its forward movement, thus securely locking the breech before the hammer can explode the cartridge.

3. rIhe action of the latch upon the trigger and hammerwhen the breech is open, preventing any forward movement of either bcfore the breech is closed, and relieving itself from the top of the trigger, substantially as described.

isAAo sUTvAN. [L s] Vitnesses:

WM. H. ONYX, T. HERBERT ONYX. 

